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Ranked among the world’s top medical schools with the fifth-largest MD enrollment in North America, the UBC Faculty of Medicine is a leader in both the science and the practice of medicine. Across British Columbia, more than 12,000 faculty and staff are training the next generation of doctors, health care professionals, and medical researchers, making remarkable discoveries to help create the pathways to better health for our communities at home and around the world.
The UBC Faculty of Medicine offers a diverse array of training opportunities including cutting-edge research experiences in the biosciences, globally recognized population health education, quality health professional training, as well as several certificate and online training options. The Faculty of Medicine is home to more than 1,700 graduate students housed in 20 graduate programs (14 of which offer doctoral research options). Year after year, research excellence in the Faculty of Medicine is supported by investment from funding sources here at home and around the globe, receiving approximately more than $1.8B in total research funding since 2016.
We value our trainees and the creative input they have to scholarly activities at UBC. Our priority is to enable their maximum potential through flexible opportunities that provide a breadth of experiences tailored to their own individual career objectives. We maintain high standards of excellence, and work to create a community of intellectually and socially engaged scholars that work collaboratively with each other, the university, and the world, with the overarching goal of promoting the health of individuals and communities.
Most Faculty research is conducted under the auspices of 23 centres and institutes that are part of UBC or affiliated with it, in collaboration with our health partners.
UBC Faculty of Medicine provides innovative educational and research programs in the areas of health and life sciences through an integrated and province-wide delivery model in facilities at locations throughout British Columbia.
The Life Sciences Centre is the largest building on the UBC Vancouver campus. Completed in 2004, the $125 million, 52,165 sq metres building was built to accommodate the distributed medical educational program and the Life Sciences Institute.
The Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health (DMCBH), a partnership between the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health, unites under one roof research and clinical expertise in neuroscience, psychiatry and neurology in order to accelerate discovery and translate new knowledge into better treatment and prevention strategies. DMCBH has both laboratory and clinical research areas within the Centre proper and in the UBC Hospital Koerner Pavilion. Our core facilities are essential to ongoing collaboration, teaching, and research.
The BC Children's Hospital Research Institute is it the largest research institute of its kind in Western Canada in terms of people, productivity, funding and size. With more than 350,000 square feet of space, the Institute has both 'wet bench' laboratory and 'dry lab' clinical research areas, and other areas to facilitate particular areas of research and training.
New knowledge and innovation are crucial to successfully identifying, addressing and overcoming the increasingly complex health-related challenges that influence the lives of all of us – in British Columbia, in Canada, and in countries and communities around the globe.
The UBC Faculty of Medicine is recognized nationally and internationally for research innovation that advances knowledge and translates new discoveries to improve the health and well-being of individuals and communities. Research opportunities feature extensive collaborations across other faculties, health institutions and health partners across British Columbia, Canada and internationally.
The Faculty provides and fosters research excellence across the full continuum, from basic science to applied science and then to knowledge implementation, with a focus on precision health; cancer; brain and mental health; heart and lung health; population health; and chronic diseases.
This is an incomplete sample of recent publications in chronological order by UBC faculty members with a primary appointment in the Faculty of Medicine.
| Year | Citation | Program |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Dr. Tai studied the cholinergic modulation of three Ca2+-permable ion channels (R-type VGCCs, TRPC5 channels and NMDA receptors) in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons and the potential functional roles of these modulations in both physiological and pathophysiological conditions. His finding helps to develop treatments for epilepsy and ischemia. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Lockwood developed novel genome scanning approaches to discover genes disrupted in cancer. He applied this method to identify the mechanisms involved in the initiation and progression of different subtypes of lung cancer. His findings highlight the need for developing targeted therapies tailored to tumor biology. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Mortenson explored the impact of wheelchairs on those in residential care. His research revealed the pivotal role that wheelchairs play in their lives and uncovered facility practices that may curtail their mobility and social activity. These findings have the potential to inform practice and policy changes to improve their quality of life. | Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Sciences (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Yuan validated a CT method to analyze lung structures in a cohort of smokers. These cross sectional and longitudinal studies provide important insights regarding the onset and progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. A novel finding is that CT analysis could serve as a useful biomarker to identify the "susceptible" smokers who will develop the disease. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Tossonian evaluated the treatment of HIV infection in injection drug users on the Downtown East side of Vancouver showing that treatment of HIV infection in this vulnerable population can be remarkably successful if implemented within a directly observed therapy program. | Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmacology (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Gretes studied the x-ray crystal structures of proteins involved in bacterial antibiotic resistance. He also examined the way that two new drugs precisely interact with their protein targets. It is hoped that his work will help guide the development of new, more effective antibiotics. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Medina examined how circulating bone marrow-derived cells are recruited to injured areas and transformed into anti-fibrogenic profile cells, which in turn control the tissue remodeling capacity of dermal fibroblasts. This research provides new insights into the role of local environments in the wound-healing outcome. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Reza Jalili successfully developed and applied a novel non-rejectable pancreatic islet graft to treat diabetes in an animal model. To make the graft resistant to rejection, a natural mechanism, used in the protection of a fetus against the mother's immune system during pregnancy, was exploited. This research opens new avenues to treat diabetes with fewer complications. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Chang studied the silencing of genes on the human X chromosome. He identified DNA sequences with potential regulatory roles in gene silencing and argued that the established mouse model system does not reflect the human scenario. This research provides novel directions to future studies of human X-chromosome inactivation. | Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Colozzo's work described children's memory strategies - how they change with age, relate to intellectual and language abilities, and vary from task to task. Her findings offer a solution to debates about the nature of verbal rehearsal and indicate greater individual variability than has been recognized in prior studies. | Doctor of Philosophy in Audiology and Speech Sciences (PhD) |